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The Lady Devils volleyball team has been practicing hard as the upcoming season grows closer, according to coach Lydia Sale. They meet daily in the high school gym, where they spread out in pairs and practice lobbing the ball back and forth.
Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
The Swain County High School Lady Devils volleyball team is feeling good about its chances this coming season, said coach Lydia Sale.
Sale said the girls are “working really hard and getting along really well.”
Some of the goals this year? More wins.
“I want to continue raising our win percentage. That’s a huge goal. We’re focusing on being really good teammates, on having a positive culture,” she said.
Assistant Coach Jeff Marr said he wants to have “a team that the community is proud of.”
One thing Sale said that sets this team apart is their age. There are no seniors.
“We’re a really young team. That may lead a lot of people to underestimate us, and that’s not always a bad thing,” she said.
Team member Gracie Sutton said the team was “working really hard” even now.
“We’re really coming together as a team. We’re ready to take a turnaround and make a run for conference,” Sutton said.
Wednesday, Aug. 2, the team took some team photos ahead of the start of the season. Then they went inside the high school gym and spent time practicing lobbing the ball back and forth under the eyes of Sale and Marr.
Since then, Sale said the team has been “training ever since” and only took a few state mandated days off since their training began in June.
“They’ve been in the weight room or the gym since then. They’ve worked really, really hard,” she said.
This will be Sale’s third year as the coach for varsity volleyball. Prior to that, she coached the sport at the JV and middle school level for two years, she said.
The first volleyball game of the year is scheduled for
Tuesday, Aug. 15 against Pisgah.